Burgeoning Bike Trails

By Matt Conger

Since the 1990s, Schweitzer has allowed thrill-seeking mountain bikers to bring their bikes up the chairlift so they could ride back down to the village. The mountain gained a reputation as a rocky and rough place to hone bike skills and quickly became a favorite to downhill mountain bikers. In the early 2000s, Schweitzer hosted multiple years of the National Off Road Bike Association (NORBA) race series, a national mountain bike competition that brought professional bikers to Schweitzer from around the country to compete in downhill and cross-country style racing. Since then Schweitzer’s trail network saw some slow growth with the addition of a couple of new trails including Bear Grass and Pinch Flat in the late 2000s, but development of more new trails and maintenance of the current trail network stayed relatively stagnant until recently.

With bikes being sold in record numbers, an increase in mountain bike rentals, and more interest in lift-access mountain bike tickets, Schweitzer has once again started to invest in the trail network. The summer of 2020 saw the first new bike trail in years, Squirrel Master, and with the purchase of a new trail machine, the revamped trail crew led by terrain park manager Dan Nylund, set out to rebuild berms and fix problem areas on the other existing trails. Bear Grass and Upper Pinch Flat both had the majority of the berms rebuilt and the skills park got a facelift with all-new jumps, drops, and rollers.

Now that the crew has finished up with some much-needed trail maintenance projects, they have been able to turn their focus to new trail additions. The Schweitzer trail crew has been working hard on a new lower section of Pinch Flat, the main black diamond trail off the summit. This lower section will extend down towards the Sunnyside area of the mountain instead of following the old rocky road to Bear Grass like the old Pinch Flat used to do. Look for this new trail to be rideable in the summer of 2022.

With the need for even more new trails and the fact that the Schweitzer trail crew has been busy on trail projects of their own, Schweitzer decided to bring on two additional trail companies to build new bike trails in their downhill trail network.

Top, Terra Flow’s new trail is taking shape off Bear Grass. Above, mountain bikes arrive at the summit via the Great Escape Quad chairlift. Below, a rider descends Pinch Flat under the Great Escape Quad.

Terra Flow, a nationally renowned trail building company, is working on one of these new trails. Based in Whitefish, Montana, Terra Flow has a reputation for building some of the best and most fun trails in the northern Rockies. With experience building at resorts such as Whitefish, Big Sky, and the Yellowstone Club, Schweitzer is excited to see what they come up with. Their new trail will follow the Gypsy ski run and will be geared towards intermediate riders.

The second trail company helping Schweitzer expand their trail network is Collaborative Trails. This Sandpoint-based company has built some amazing local trails over the past few years including many of the new trails in the Pine Street Woods trail network near Sandpoint. The new pump track at the bottom of the Great Escape quad was also built by Collaborative Trails and is an awesome addition to the mountain – especially for the younger kids and beginner mountain bikers. Their planned trail will be a spur off the existing Bear Grass Trail and will dive into some of the treed patches between the ski runs off of the Basin Express Quad. Both of these trails will be ready to ride by the summer of 2022.

Even more trails are on the way for Little Sand Creek Basin Trail network, the trail system outside of Schweitzer’s area boundary. The Pend Oreille Pedalers, our local nonprofit trails and biking organization, are working with the City of Sandpoint to expand and improve on trails in Sandpoint’s watershed at the bottom of Schweitzer Mountain known as the “Basin Trails.” This Basin Trail network is comprised of all sorts of high alpine, cross country, and downhill trails that connect the summit of Schweitzer to the valley, allowing riders to climb or descend almost 4,000 vertical feet. The Pend Oreille Pedalers are currently working on a two-phase plan to build an uphill-friendly trail from the bottom of the Basin Trails network and another new downhill flow trail the following year. These are just the immediate plans, and the club has some ambitious goals including the expansion of their alpine trails off of the Schweitzer summit.

If you haven’t been on any of the trails around Schweitzer in the past few years, you will be blown away at the amazing work that the Schweitzer Trail Crew, the Pend Oreille Pedalers, and others have put in. It’s exciting to see all the progress and expansion of trails that allow users to experience nature, take in the views, and have fun. If you enjoy the trails that the Pend Oreille Pedalers are building around Schweitzer or the town of Sandpoint, make sure you become a member or donate at PendOreillePedalers.org to continue supporting them in their efforts.

See you out there!